Happy Thanksgiving!

We somehow didn't get any pictures from Thanksgiving Day, which was spent at Babcia and Dziadek's house, with the Parkers and family friends also present.  The dinner had to be cut a bit short, with our family leaving in a rush, since Agnieszka had to make it in time for -what turned out to be quite a busy and exciting - work night shift.

The next morning, while Agnieszka enjoyed the earplug quiet of a hospital call room, Daniel and Auggie took a brief trip to Chabot Space and Science Center, while Ella stayed home with Kristen.  That evening, the whole family went to our favorite sushi boat restaurant for dinner and got a delicious Huckleberry Sundae at Smitten Ice Cream. Yum.

playing dress up at home

At Chabot

Auggie's "Garage"

Saturday, we spent the morning at the Bay Discovery Museum, where Auggie played happily, while Ella and Agnieszka quietly nursed their colds.  Ella did some crawling in the toddler area - encouraged by her big brother.  She also discovered that she could put her hand into her cheerios cup and get handfuls of little cereal, which amused her immensely.

constructing a constellation

By Sunday, everyone was feeling better and we had an ambitious day of "TWO PLAYDATES!!", as Auggie incredulously exclaimed multiple times.  We started the morning with a trip to the SF Zoo with Kaiden's family and then met up with Auggie's besties at the Little Farm.  Auggie easily walked/ran 4-5 miles on this day.  Ella, on the other hand, as mostly confined to stroller and carrier and was quite ready to get home and crawl around at the end of the day.

Auggie&Papa at the Academy of Sciences...x2

With the ongoing smoky air in the Bay Area, Auggie and Papa spent their weekend together indoors.  on Saturday, they drove to the Cal Academy of Sciences and got there just at opening time to get ahead of everyone else in the Bay Area who had the same idea. They looked at jellyfish, butterflies and even snowflakes! Auggie like it so much that they came back again the next day! And that's why we have a membership.

In between trips to the City, Auggie continued to work on his drawing skills - this kid loves to draw - and constructing more shape pictures with Papa.  When Agnieszka made it home from work, we braved the still smoky air to walk in search of dinner in Berkeley, after finding out that our favorite burger place had suddenly closed.  We stumbled upon a very busy brewery, which served reheated fancy grilled cheese sandwiches and chips.  Agnieszka and Daniel enjoyed some local beer, in between trying to keep Auggie entertained and Ella from wiggling free out of our arms.  This girl has some strong internal urge to be moving all the time.

Ella is 10 months old!

Another month has flown by!  Ella is now 10 months old.  She has fully mastered crawling, pulling up and teetering (e.g. trying to stand on her own). She is babbling lots of "Da da da, Ma Ma ma" etc, and her brother will tell you she also says "Aaaaagggeee" (we haven't heard that one yet). She has also mastered stranger anxiety, and can sometimes break into a panicked cry when a nice stranger - or less familiar family member - smiles at her. Stares are OK, but if you smile at her, she feels you are about to take her away.  She continues to absolutely adore Auggie, and he seems to actually enjoy making her laugh and smile. Recently, they have started playing chasing games, with both crawling on the floor, Ella chasing Auggie around the house.  Ella also clearly has an ear for music and rhythm.  Whenever fun music starts to play, she stops whatever she is doing and tries to dance along. We will try to get a video next time.

Trip to Tahoe

The fires in Butte County made the air in the Bay Area very unhealthy and confined all kids (and adults) indoors.  When we realized that the smoke might stick around for weeks, we decided to make a spontaneous trip to the hills and fresher air.  Auggie's friends' parents loved the idea, too, and Maya's family invited us to their house in Tahoe.  So on Saturday morning, three families, each with 3-4 year olds and 9month-19month olds set out on the road.  Along the way, we found a hidden treasure, a little area off of I-80 called Rainbow, where we explored large boulders and rock formations and even got to see puddles frozen in ice.

The Tahoe trip was as expected.  A wonderful escape into good air, with great folks and happy kids.  Pretty much no one slept - babies and toddlers are not much for spontaneous changes of sleeping locations, but we still had a wonderful time.

 watered down Gatorade from Taco Bell - a huge road trip treat